February 1, 2006
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Dear Mr. Harper:
I would like to congratulate you on your election.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) hopes that all parties within Parliament will be able to work together to meet the challenges facing workers, parents, students, the poor, the homeless, the elderly and others. It is important work and, as Prime Minister, you have an opportunity to make this minority government work for people.
In the next few months, you have a golden opportunity to make a difference to the people of Quebec City and Eastern Quebec. As you may know, Josée Verner, Chair of the Quebec Caucus for the Conservative Party of Canada, asked Canada Post to reconsider its decision to close the mail processing plant in Quebec City in September of 2005. In November 2005, Brian Pallister, then post office critic for the Conservative Party, said “a Conservative Party government would review Canada Post's decision to close the Quebec City sorting centre.” He also said “It is unthinkable to us that the Montreal centre alone can provide consistent service quality across the province. The people of Eastern Quebec deserve quality postal service, equivalent to that provided in the rest of the province.”
The public and postal workers in Quebec City and elsewhere were very pleased to hear what Ms. Verner and Mr. Pallister had to say. We have recently contacted Ms. Verner and hope to meet with her in the next few weeks to follow-up on these commitments (See attached letter to Josée Verner).
CUPW would also like to meet with your new minister responsible for Canada Post to discuss a variety of post office issues, including Canada Post's review of its national postal network, the moratorium on rural post office closures and other important issues. I have attached, for your information, some earlier correspondence on some of these issues.
We would like to use this meeting to introduce ourselves and begin what we hope will be an open and honest dialogue about the future of our public postal system.
Yours truly,
Deborah Bourque
National President
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Encl.
c.c.: CUPW National Executive Board
Regional Education and Organization Officer’s
National Union Representatives
Specialists
All CUPW locals
All members of Parliament
Gilles Duceppe, Leader, Bloc Quebecois
Jack Layton, Leader, New Democratic Party
Paul Martin, Leader, Liberal Party
Leslie Schous, President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
Richard Des Lauriers, President, Union of Postal Communications Employees, Public Service Alliance of Canada
